I am Yashwant (Yash), senior at UW School of Oceanography. I like to study the Geo-chemical aspects of it. I am inclined towards climate sciences and I think that understanding geochemistry of the oceans is a big step towards studying climate change. With new sources of organic carbon like methane seeps, the global carbon cycle changes significantly. With hydrothermal vents being additional sources of carbon dioxide & rare earth minerals and a completely different environment kilometers deep, they are fascinating to explore. This cruise offers me the opportunity to look into these matter and conduct studies on them with the best of the technology out there. I’m glad to be on this this cruise that will definitely be something that shapes my future.